Kurokawa Onsen accommodation

Hi All,

I'm currently trying to further refine my upcoming trip focussing on Kumamoto in Dec/Jan where I will be staying in Kurokawa Onsen. At present I've booked a holiday home with a private onsen for an absolute steal (7,500 yen a night) which is around 2km from the town itself. I've got a car so travel is not too much of a problem (hotel name: Kurasako Onsen Sakura).

My main question is if it's worth paying the extra to stay in Kuruokawa Onsen itself. I've stayed in many ryokans in Japan and my budget can only really stretch to 20,000 yen a night (single) for a splurge. Just wanting to get peoples opinions....

Kaseki dinners is something that I like - but I've also had too many of these to count as well so they can be missed....

Hi. I am getting like you, we had about 8 kaiseki dinners in our last trip and honestly any more than one or two in 14 days is too many! I figure for me next trip I'm not taking a dinner plan anywhere where there are places that I can get food elsewhere.

I stayed in two ryokans at Kurokawa, one just out of town one way, and Hozentai which is a few km out of town the other. Both were good, Hozentai was absolutely spectacular, set up like a little japanese village, with just awesome food and a nice bar. I'd go back as I think it was the best ryokan I've stayed at. But really, that'd be the only one, if you are fine with public onsens I wouldnt bother with a ryokan.

I know what you mean by that Lazy Pious. Strangely for this trip - I'm not staying at a high quality ryokan and my most expensive accommodation is 8,400 yen at a Yukai resort with B/D.

Having car parking often limits where I can stay when it comes to smaller ryokans. What I have found difficult is finding reasonable priced accommodation around Amakusa Islands between December 31st - Jan 2nd. At the moment all I've found is a business hotel with ok ratings for an extremely cheap 5.400 yen a night with B/D.

Sweet, yeah I think my next trip we will look mainly at Onsen resorts. Last trip we stayed at high end ryokans at a few places (Lake Kawaguchiko, Kamikochi, Nara) and onsen resorts at others (Tayakama, Hikone), really I think we have gotten to the point where we like the onsen resorts better because of the flexibility with dinner.

But I forgot to mention initially, there isnt much to do in Kurokawa town itself. It is tiny and there was only one bar/restaurant that I recall (which was actually pretty good, we had lunch there a couple of times) with a few other cafes and things. The town is quaint enough but it isnt a hive of activity by any means. That said, we were there a few weeks to a month after the Kumamoto earthquake, maybe there were closures and it could be livelier now.

Thanks for that info. I might need to cook at my accommodation then if it's that dead. At least I have that option....